iMentor’s College Ready Program: Examining Implementation and Impacts for 10th Graders

The iMentor College Ready Program combines school-based mentoring with technology and aspects of whole school reform, in an effort to improve students’ college readiness. The program matches low-income youth with college-educated mentors and aims to help them develop close relationships through online communication and monthly in-person events. Mentoring takes place throughout students’ four years of high school.

In turn, iMentor hopes to leverage these relationships to help students develop the mindsets, skills, and knowledge necessary to reach and succeed in college.

Study Goals:

This report examines the College Ready Program’s impact at the end of students’ 10^th grade year. It also updates an analysis of the program’s implementation across eight New York City high schools. Finally, it explores whether students’ engagement with key components of the College Ready Program has any association with positive outcomes.

Research Questions:

The research questions were:

• How was iMentor implemented during the 10th grade?
• What were the effects of iMentor after two years of implementation?
• Were stronger outcomes associated with closer mentoring relationships or with the intensity of participation in iMentor activities?

Findings:

The evaluation found the following:

• Overall schools struggled to meet iMentor’s implementation goals, but participation in key activities varied substantially across schools and student cohorts.
• There was no overall upward trend in implementation levels over time. Rather, implementation levels rose and fell across the various program components and schools.
• iMentor had a small, positive, statistically significant impact on some student experiences and attitudes, but not on students' attendance or academic performance.
• Looking only at students who had access to iMentor, those who reported feeling very close to their mentors had some stronger outcomes compared with those who did not feel as close.

For more information, download the full report and report brief.